Sky Paintings
by Sesshy'sGirlLOL01
Summary: It's their last real week together, how will they spend it? SzayelXOrihime


A/N: The third part of my little one shot series. The first being 'Kissing you' and the second being, 'I like you'. You don't really need to read them but it helps understand what's going on a little better. The main pairing for this one is Szayel X Orihime (Though you will see hints of other pairings) :) Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or anything else. I do own the plot though.

Sky Paintings

"Hello Szayel-kun." Orihime greeted with a smile and a small blush. While it had been weeks since the ball incident and they had seen each other numerous times since then she still blushed in his presence.

He returned the smile. "Hello Orihime-chan, how do you feel today?" he gave her his customary greeting closing the door behind him.

She rose and offered him a seat on the sofa with her. "I'm feeling really good today," she beamed sitting down with him. "How are you Szayel-kun?" It was really odd, she was smiling more often than what she did when she first came to Huco Mondo. Heck, she was actually enjoying herself more than she had in a long time… and all of her joy came from the octava Espada.

His smile widened. "I am feeling well," one of his gloved hands rose so he could twirl a loose strand of her hair with his fingers. "Though even if I am well my mood has been somewhat ruined by the news Aizen-sama as informed me with…"

Orihime looked at him confused. "Szayel? Is something wrong?" She put a comforting hand on his shoulder. She couldn't help but find it strange how she was able to be so kind and caring and act so natural with the Espada.

"It appears the Ulquiorra will be returning from his mission in a week and he will regain his duty as your career." There was a strange look in Szayel's eyes, one that Orihime had never seen before, it was bitter, angry and something she couldn't quite discern… It made her feel somewhat fearful.

"Oh…" she said softly, not knowing what else to say.

"So after this week I'm afraid to say I won't be able to see you as often." He looked away from her not knowing what else to say. He didn't know why he cared about what was happening, by rights he shouldn't even care about her… so why did he feel so weird about having to leave her?

She glanced over at him, she didn't know what to say or do. He seemed so blank, yet sad at the same time. "Well…" she began hesitantly. "I suppose we'll have to make the best out of this week." She gave him a reassuring smile.

He looked back at her, his lips twitched and a small smile formed on them. He always found her smiles to be contagious.

X

"Orihime-chan?" Szayel spoke breaking the comfortable silence between the pair as he noticed something that caught his attention, it seemed to be a small stack of papers in the corner of the room.

"Hm?" Orihime looked up at him.

"What are those?" he asked pointing to the small pile of papers on the floor beside her bed.

She looked over to where his finger was pointing and her eyes widened and a bright smile broke out onto her face. "Those are my drawings!" she beamed jumping off the sofa and running to the papers. She then lifted them in her arms and turned to Szayel. "Would Szayel-kun like to see them?"

There was a long stretch of silence as Szayel stared alternatively from her to the 'drawings' "Alright…" he spoke after a length of silence, he was somewhat wary about looking at her pictures, it could just be him but Orihime didn't seem like the drawing type.

X

"Is that me!" Szayel asked with a bright smile as he looked down at the drawing. It was a drawing of what appeared to be a giant pink butterfly eating a round ball that looked suspiciously like Lumina, his smile turned into a grin as he looked at his face that was taking a bite into the ball, for some reason that he didn't want to ask about, the blood was rainbow colored. The background was a bunch of cheering green rabbits…

Orihime nodded excited that Szayel seemed to be enjoying the pictures.

Szayel put the picture beside him and lifted another. "And this is Grimmjow?" he smirked at the picture of a robotic blue cat that had Grimmjow's scowling head. The background of this image was multicolored balls of yarn.

She nodded again. "Yup yup! Do you like them Szayel?" she inched closer to him expectedly.

He nodded and laughed when he looked at a picture of what appeared to be Aizen only he was a teapot. "Where did you get the tools to do this?" He asked after chuckling at the irony of Aizen being a teapot.

"The cook bought them for me." Orihime replied with a smile. "She told me that it was something I could do when I got bored. Or just felt like drawing."

Szayel nodded in acceptance of her words and lifted another picture, this one was actually really good. While all of Orihime's pictures were cartoon like and had no reality to them, this one looked perfect and looked as though it was real, like he could reach out onto the page and touch the flowers in the bright field she had drawn.

"This is really beautiful." He commented softly before examining the picture. He took in the intricate details she had put into the flowers and leaves, the way in which she had used the pencils, the small hatches for the grass and the way she put small hidden brown parts to make it look more like a ground and not just green. He looked closer into the picture and noticed how she had put every detail into the flowers, she had even put small insects on some of the flowers petals. The picture looked so real it wasn't funny.

"Thank you." she replied with a small blush. This was the first time she had tried a picture like this so she was a little embarrassed about people looking at it.

"I love it…" he brushed against the picture as though he was going to be able to feel the strands of grass between his fingers. As he looked at the image an idea formed into his mind, she had said, 'I suppose we'll have to make the best out of this week.' He grinned as an idea of just how they could 'make the best' of the week.

He glanced over at her. "Orihime?" he spoke.

She looked up at him. "Hmm?" she hummed.

He lifted the pictures. "May I borrow these?" he questioned.

At first she gave him a confused look but shortly after she smiled and nodded. "Sure."

He returned her smile and nodded in thanks. After a few moments of silence he rose as he suddenly remembered the Espada meeting he had to attend. "I'm sorry," he spoke looking down at her seated form. "I have to go to a meeting, I will hopefully be back later." He offered her a smile.

She returned the smile before her eyes widened as though she had remembered something. "Oh!" she jumped up from the sofa and twirled her fingers. "Umm Szayel?"

He raised a brow. "Yes?"

She twiddled her fingers somewhat nervously. "I was wondering if you could ask either Aizen-sama or Cook if it would be possible for me to have some more art supplies… I'm sort of running low," she laughed nervously. "If it's not too much trouble."

He smiled at her again. "No trouble at all." Looking down at the innocent expression on her face he suddenly had the urge to kiss her, so he did just a light one on the kiss. Once he moved back he smirked at the stunned expression on her face.

"Goodbye Orihime." With that he left.

It took her a few moments to register that he had left. "Goodbye Szayel!" she called out hoping he heard her.

He did.

XXX

Szayel almost cried out in pleasure as Aizen began to close up the meeting. This had to be the single most boring meeting any of them had experience in their lives. EVER. Taking a glance at Grimmjow and Nnoitra he noticed that they shared his sentiments.

It was just as Aizen was about to close up the meeting that Szayel remembered Orihime's request. Clearing his throat he politely spoke. "Aizen-sama, if I may?"

Grimmjow growled low in his throat while Nnoitra glared darkly at Szayel. How dare he keep this meeting going longer than necessary!

The rest of the Espada all gave him an indignant look, they really didn't want to be here any longer. Except for Halibel whom didn't seem to care either way, and Stark who seemed to be asleep.

Aizen quirked a brow and replied with. "Yes?"

"Orihime wished to know if it would be alright if she could have some more art supplies as she has run low?" There was no way he could have worded it without it sounding utterly stupid so he hoped that that would suffice with Aizen.

If possible Aizen's brow went higher and after a few moments of silence he replied. "Well Szayel as-" he was cut off by another voice.

"Sosuke?" All eyes turned to the cook who was walking into the room from a door that was at the very back of the room, behind Aizen's seat.

"Yes?" he asked the cook.

She twiddled her fingers almost nervously. It was kind of scary given how the human usually acted around them. "I'm sorry for interrupting your meeting but I was wondering if I could go to the human world…?" she put her hands up in a pleading position. "Please there's some rare herbs I need for cooking and I'm all out!"

Aizen took a sip of his hot tea and spoke coolly. "And why should I?" there was a certain smugness in his voice.

The cook smirked and moved closer to him. "Si usted me esta favor, te daré un poco de algo cuando están en su habitación esta noche..." she spoke smoothly her eyes gleaming mischievously.

Aizen coughed lightly as though chocking on his tea, this was a strange sight for the Espada who couldn't understand what the cook had just said, but those who did kept their mouth shut and their amusement to themselves.

"hmmm... Me gusta el sonido de que." Aizen replied just as smoothly his brown eyes locking with the cooks deep violet. "Very well…" he continued. "You may go to the human world, however you must take Szayel and Orihime with you."

The cook smiled. "Gracias." She looked over to Szayel. "Meet me Orihime's room 'kay?" she gave Aizen a bow before excusing herself from the room, it was shortly after that that the meeting disbanded.

XXX

Szayel paused at Orihime's door as he heard the sound of giggling on the other side, a delicate brow rose and he decided to listen in on the girl's conversation- it wasn't eavesdropping, he was just doing research on women, well that's what he told himself.

"Sooooo…" he heard the cook stretch out the word and he could tell that she was probably leering at Orihime. "Orihime-chan, are you in love with Szayel-kun?"

He heard a loud gasp that was undoubtedly Orihime's, his lips twitched and he leaned closer to the door, his hear pressed against the door, he was suddenly very interested in this conversation. "W-What!?" he heard her all but shout.

He could practically feel the cook's grin. "You heard."

Orihime's sputtering could be heard. "I-I w-what!?"

Szayel could tell the cook now had an annoyed expression on her face. "Don't give me that now, how do you feel about him?"

Orihime sighed shakily. "I well…" she hesitated. "I like him…" in his mind he could see her blushing as she said that.

Realization hit Szayel. 'She likes me?' something inside him clenched at that thought but before he had time to think about it the sound of Orihime caught him.

"Don't look at me like that! Because of this you should tell me what's going on between you and Aizen-sama!" for some reason Szayel could see Orihime standing and pointing down in anger as she yelled this.

"Me and Sosuke?" Came the cook's almost confused voice. "I thought our relationship was quite obvious. Isn't that right Szayel?" Szayel jumped lightly at the sound of his name being called. How did she know he was there?

He slowly opened the door and walked into the room. "I-" he hesitated not knowing what to say, he had just been caught eavesdropping, his eyes met with the embarrassed ones of Orihime- he did absentmindedly notice that he was right about her position, she was standing and pointing down at the cook.

The cook smiled and jumped up from her seated position. "Well I think its time we went to the human world," she cocked her head to the side. "Don't you think?"

XXX

"Kisuke." Came Yoruichi's voice as she walked into the room where Urahara was currently discussing something with Ichigo.

Urahara twisted his head back to look at the cat lady. "Yes Yoruichi?"

Yoruichi hesitated a little bit when she noticed Ichigo but she continued none the less. "There are arrancar again." She said simply knowing Urahara would understand.

Ichigo became confused. "Again? What do you mean!?" his voice was filled with a small amount of panic at the thought of arrancar being there, he didn't want to think about what those hollows would do if they were here, especially after Orihime.

Urahara looked at Ichigo almost sadly. "I'm sorry Ichigo." He locked eyes with Yoruichi and nodded slightly.

Confusion took Ichigo. "Sorry? For wha-" Yoruichi struck a part of his neck and he fell to the ground unconscious.

"How long 'til he wakes up?" Urahara looked down at the unconscious Ichigo.

Yoruichi petted his head. "About six or more hours."

Urahara shook his head. "Poor Ichigo." He suddenly grinned. "Well Yoruichi, shall we?" he held his hand out to her.

She smirked and shook her head in response.

XXX

"So where are we going first?" The cook questioned as they stood in a random Karakura street.

"Do you not need to get some 'rare herbs'" Szayel replied remembering the scene at the meeting. "Perhaps we should get those first."

The cook nodded in agreement. "Okay we'll get some herbs first then the stuff for Orihime." With that the three turned and walked down the street.

X

"There's a third one with them this time…" Yoruichi murmured from their vantage point in the bushes.

Urahara's eyes narrowed in realization. "Hey, I know that lady…" he mumbled and upon receiving a questioning glance from Yoruichi he explained. "She used to work at the coffee shop near my shop, she just disappeared one day though…" he chuckled under his breath. "Well I guess it's safe to say I know what happened to her now."

Yoruichi crossed her arms and huffed. "What she ran off and became Aizen's illicit lover?" she rolled her eyes sarcastically.

Urahara raised a brow. "I was going to say she was kidnapped because of her unnatural ability to brew the ultimate tea's and coffee's but whatever floats your boat." With that he rose and followed after the trio.

"Kisuke…" she shook her head and followed after him.

XXX

"What is this place?" Szayel stared at the old shop before them. It looked as though it hadn't been entered in years, there was cobwebs on the window's and the door was covered in dust.

The cook crossed her arms and huffed. "This is only the BEST herb shop in the country," she glanced at the pair through the corner of her eyes. "Now I'll just go in for a moment then we can go to the art supply store and get what Orihime needs." She smiled before dashing into the shop.

A silence took the two.

"Soo…" Orihime laughed nervously not knowing what to say, she scratched her arm uncomfortably.

"Where do you get your inspiration for your drawings?" he asked trying to make conversation.

She smiled. "I've always enjoyed drawing," she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "just like I enjoy cooking… though, I don't think people like my cooking or drawing very much."

His brows furrowed lightly. "Why would they not like your drawings? From what I have seen you are a fine artist," he leaned down to her ear and whispered. "between you and me you are much more artistic than I, I was always the more science inclined person."

She smiled brightly and without warning flung her arms around him in a friendly hug. "Thank you Szayel!"

He smiled and petted her head affectionately. "As for your cooking I've yet to taste it but I'm sure it tastes fine." Even though he couldn't see it he knew she was smiling at that as she tightened her grip on him.

"Well now, I leave you two alone three minutes and this is what happens?" They froze at the sound of the cooks voice. "I wonder what would happen if I was gone for six minutes." The pair slowly moved their heads to the side where they saw the cook standing there grinning at them.

Orihime went bright red. "Well umm…"

Szayel opened his mouth to give a reply but stopped as the cook waved her hand dismissively. "I don't really care about your relationship," she smiled. "hope it works for ya, now we'd better go." She pointed in a seemingly random direction. "That way men!"

Orihime giggled and moving out of Szayel's arms saluted. "Yes ma'am."

Szayel shook his head lightly and decided he needed to do some research into human women's emotions and such as he followed after them.

X

"Wow…" Yoruichi breathed as the events she had just witnessed replayed in her mind.

Urahara looked at her with shaded eyes. "That was certainly interesting."

"I… something tells me that Ichigo should have been here to see that." Yoruichi sat back on the ground her eyes still wide from shock, she had just seen the kidnapped Orihime hugging a hollow.

"I don't think so," Urahara responded. "I think he would have gotten aggressive and attacked before even getting an understanding of what was happening." He paused for a moment. "Though I do agree with you, it probably wouldn't have hurt Ichigo to have heard that."

She sighed. "It is a little sad though… everything she wanted in Ichigo she's getting with a hollow…"

Urahara almost snorted. "You think?" he then jumped up and followed after the trio.

XXX

"This is an art store?" Szayel asked as he looked around the store, there were paint brushes, canvases, paint and other supplies all around the room. He studied the room, this was how humans stored their things?

Orihime nodded before her eyes widened with excitement. "Look at that!" she clasped her hands together with joy before running over to what appeared to be a series of different calligraphy brushes.

"She really is an odd one isn't she?" the cook moved to stand beside him, her arms crossed over her chest as she watched Orihime pick out random items.

"But that is what makes her Orihime." He spoke before even realizing it.

The cook grinned at his stunned expression. "Did I just say that…?" he breathed.

Her grin widened and she gave him a small pat on the back. "Don't worry about it," she began to make her way to Orihime but not before looking back over her shoulder at him. "The hardest person to know is yourself." With that she ran to the girl who was looking at the various types of paints.

X

"She has a point you know." Urahara spoke from their vantage point behind yet another bush. "What don't you agree?" he asked when he noticed the skeptical look on her face.

"To each his own." Yoruichi commented, she really liked that saying it pretty much won her every argument.

XXX

"Thank you so much!" Orihime thanked the shop owner as she took her bag filled with various art supplies. "Where to now?" She looked back at the other two.

The cook scratched the back of her head almost nervously. "I'm sorry but we have to get back now, I have a promise I need to keep." She laughed.

"Just what did you say to Aizen-sama this morning?" Szayel prompted, he had a feeling that this 'promise' she had to keep had something to do with that.

Confusion struck Orihime, what were they talking about?

The cook laughed louder and harder. "Trust me, hun, you don't wanna know!" she linked her arms in their's. "Now let's go!"

XXX

"Thank you... so much for taking me to the human world again Szayel." Orihime looked to the pink haired Espada who was leading her back to her room. "Will you be visiting me tomorrow?" she asked remembering the promise to make the most out of the week.

"Hmm.. I'll see what I can do…" he spoke, his voice was soft and distant as though he was in his own little world.

"Szayel-kun?" she looked at him concerned, she didn't think she had ever heard him use that tone with her before. "Are you alright."

At the sound of her voice his head shot to her. "Yes," he smiled. "I am fine, but I have to go I have some work I must attend to…" he stopped and it was then Orihime noticed that they had reached her room.

"Oh…" she said a little disappointed but didn't say any more on the subject knowing that Szayel had a lot of work. She opened her door to go to her room.

He offered her a small smiled. "Goodbye Orihime." His gloved hand brushed her cheek for a moment before in a flash he was gone.

Orihime remained still at the doorway for a few moments, the cheek he had touched was warm and tingled softly. Slowly her fingers brushed against the spot as she turned into the room, closing the door behind her.

XXX

'It's been two days I wonder when Szayel-kun is going to come visit.' She thought to herself as she applied more paint to her brush and continued to paint. She had been doing this for the two days that she had been alone, she was really trying hard with this one.

She put her brush down at the sound of her door opening. "Szayel?" she spoke excitedly turning her torso around to greet the person only to find that it was The Cook wheeling in her tray of food.

"Nope, just your friendly everyday Cook." The Cook grinned and closing the door behind her wheeled the food into the centre of the room. "What ya painting?" she bounced over to Orihime.

Orihime went red instantly and hastily hid the painting by a wall, the front of the canvas turned so that The Cook couldn't see it. "Now was that really called for? I just wanted to have a look." The Cook pouted with her arms crossed.

"I'm sorry…" Orihime bowed apologetically. "It's just I wanted Szayel-kun to be the first to see it."

The Cook grinned knowingly. "Ah I see."

Orihime blushed lightly and looked at what was a very appealing meal of rice, meat and vegetables. Her brows furrowed in confusion, since when did she get such nice meals? "Umm…" she began looking up at The Cook.

The Cook seemed to know what she was about to say so spoke. "Sosuke is in a very good mood today so he let me cook your meal, I thought you might like something other than the crap they're feeding you."

She looked over at the meal that did indeed look and smell nice. "Thank you." she smiled resisting the urge to jump at the meal.

The Cook seemed to sense what she wanted. "Go ahead." She nodded to the food and giggled as Orihime practically ran to the food. The Cook didn't understand what Ulquiorra was talking about, to her Orihime seemed pretty easy to feed.

"This is good!" Orihime chimed taking a bite of the food. "Though… do you have some hot chocolate sauce?" she couldn't help but enquire.

The Cook looked at her curiously, her face turning a shade of green. "C-Chocolate sauce…" she ground out resisting the urge to gag, the food she had cooked had no business with chocolate sauce. "I'm sorry Orihime but we're fresh out of the chocolate sauce." There was a strange gleam in The Cooks eyes and Orihime didn't know weather or not she wanted to ask about it.

There was a few moments silence before the cook's eyes suddenly widened. "Oh! Umm what's the time?" she looked for her watch only to find she didn't have it. "Oh crap! Sorry Orihime I have to go, need to prepare Sosuke's lunch!" with that she practically bolted out of the room.

Orihime blinked before looking down at her food. "What do I do with the cart?" she spoke aloud.

XXX

Orihime sighed as she lay on her bed. It had been a week now since she had seen Szayel and she was feeling lonely. She thought that they were going to see as much of eachother as they could this week but here it was a day before Ulquiorra got back and they had not seen each other once.

She let out another sigh and decided to try and get some sleep, it was all she really had to do since she had finished her painting and she was sick and tired of staring at the moon…

The moment she began to drift off she heard the sound of her door opening. She sat up groggily. "Yes?" she yawned thinking it was The Cook.

"Hello Orihime." Came a smooth all too familiar voice.

'SZAYEL!' Orihime shot up from the bed and turned to see Szayel standing at the doorway. "S-Szayel?" She spoke as though this was some sort of hallucination or something.

He nodded and smiled. "How are you?"

"I-I'm fine…" she stammered taking a step towards him. "What have you been doing all week, I haven't seen you all week…" she felt her eyes water.

He smiled, and reaching out to wipe the stray tears away from her cheeks. "It's alright," he soothed, leaning down to kiss her cheek, his actions were so out of character for him that not even he, himself, believed that he was acting in such a manner but something about her bought this side of him out. "I've got something to show you."

Orihime's eyes widened as though she was remembering something "Oh!" she jumped back. "Just wait a moment!" she ran to where she had placed the painting she had been working on. "I want to show you this!"

She lifted the painting that she hadn't let the cook see before running back to him. "Here!" she handed it too him. "I did this for you!"

"Hm?" he seemed somewhat confused, no one had ever given him a gift before so he didn't quite know how to react. "Thank you?" he said before lifting the painting so that he could see what it was of. Something inside him clenched as he looked at the painting.

The painting was of him standing beside Orihime in the desert of Huco Mondo, the moon beaming down at them as they stared at it. The picture looked almost lifelike and he found himself tracing the features of the painting. "Thank you…" he said softly his eyes not moving from the painting.

"You're welcome." She smiled.

XXX

"Where are you taking me?" She enquired as they walked out of Los Noches and into the desert.

"You'll see." He smirked lightly as he led her to a hill which gave them a perfect view of the sky.

"Hm?" she looked around the spot and noticed that he had set up fireworks that only need to be lit before filling the sky with colors. "What's going on?" she asked him.

He smiled and reached into one of his pockets to pull out a packet of matches he had gotten in the human world. "Enjoy." He smiled lighting one of the fireworks.

She watched as a rocket shot into the sky and exploded in a display of bright colors. Her eyes widened as she watched as the lights took the shape of one of the pictures she had drawn. "Oh my…" she smiled as she looked up at the cartoon style Szayel eating Lumina that lit the sky. "This is…" she could find the words to describe how she felt about this.

His smile widened as he studied her and realized that she was happy with what he had done. As soon as the lights in the sky began to fade he lit another firework, this one being the one of the robotic Grimmjow with the balls of string in the background.

Orihime giggled. "So this is what you've been doing." She mused.

He nodded and watched as the lights fade. He then readied another firework, this one he was particularly proud of. "Now for the final scene." As he spoke he lit the firework.

Orihime watched as the rocket shot into the sky and exploded, her eyes widened as she saw just what picture of hers he had used. It was the one of the flower field. It filled the sky and looked stunning, she could see it all, each detail in the flowers, every flower, everything. She felt her eyes water, she had never thought of the image as beautiful until now.

Szayel took a step towards her. "Do you like it?" instead of answering she flung her arms around him and kissed him warmly on the lips. "I shall take that as a yes." He spoke against her lips before leaning in for another one.

XXX

Watching from her balcony was The Cook who was leaning against the railing. "Kiss me" she sang softly. "out of the bearded barley" she smiled as she looked down at the pair.

"Nightly, beside the green, green grass" she pushed the strap of her white sleeping gown back up, she made a mental note to ask Sosuke if she could adjust the straps. "Swing, swing, swing the spinning step"

"You wear those shoes and I will wear that dress."

"You enjoy singing don't you?" a voice interrupted her. She turned to see Aizen standing behind her.

She smiled. "Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight"

He smirked.

XXX

Even as the sky painting faded Szayel and Orihime continued to kiss under the moon.

A/N: so how was this? I wasn't sure where to end it so I ended it here, I hope you all enjoyed =D

Review?


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